It is well known that walking barefoot in public and private facilities such as, for example, showers, fitness centers, locker rooms, swimming pool areas, and hospital rooms often leads to fungal-related foot ailments. Examples of such fungal-related foot ailments include, but are not limited to, Athletes Foot, Plantar Wart and the like. In addition to the potential of being subjected to such fungal-related foot ailments, there is also the potential for floors of such public and private facilities to be contaminated with micro and macro biological matter such as, for example, hair, medical chemicals, blood, urine, fecal matter, nasal discharge, stale water and the like. Accordingly, the thought of walking barefoot on floor surfaces in such public and private facilities is enough to make many people wary of using such public and private facilities. At a minimum, people often where their ‘street shoes’ as opposed to walking barefoot on floor surfaces in such public and private facilities, even in instances where wearing their street shoes may be seemingly awkward or inappropriate.
In an effort to quell concerns of walking barefoot in such public and private facilities, harsh cleaning substances are often used in an attempt to clean and sanitize floors in public and private facilities on which people often walk barefoot. Granted, the regular use of such harsh cleaning substances does go a long way to providing an environment in which a person is less prone to their bare feet being exposed to fungal and biological matter on floor surfaces. However, incomplete removal (e.g., rinsing) of such harsh cleaning substances has been known to cause skin irritation on a person's feet.
Disposable, one-time use foot covering implements are sometimes made available to patrons of certain business establishments for the purpose of proactively addressing concerns of walking barefoot on unclean floor surfaces. One example of such a disposable, one-time use foot covering implement is a one-time use ‘flip-flop’ sandal that has a sole made of a hard paper material and a strap attached to the sole for securing the sole to a foot. However, the design and construction of such conventional one-time use foot covering implements exhibit one or more characteristics that limitation their effectiveness and/or desirability. Examples of such limitations include, but are not limited to, providing less than desirable protection in a broad range of conditions, being relatively expensive, providing less than desirable protection, being somewhat difficult to walk in and/or not suitably fitting a broad range of foot sizes.
Therefore, a protective foot covering article that is configured for single use in protecting a person's bare feet from direct contact with unclean floor surfaces and that overcomes limitations associated with known approaches and articles for protecting a person's bare feet from unclean floor surfaces would be advantageous, desirable and useful.